TURA: There is no respite for the people of East Garo Hills who need to travel to state capital Shillong for work as they have to depend on the sole Meghalaya Transport Corporation night bus service which takes a detour to Tura before heading out every night.
The East Zone Garo Students Union has written to Meghalaya transport minister S Dhar highlighting the plight of passengers who board the MTC bus from Williamnagar and questioning the rationale behind travelling an additional 75 kms in the opposite direction to Tura before it leaves for Shillong, every night.
“Passengers are suffering immensely by having to endure close to three hours of travel to Tura where they have to wait for hours at the MTC station while the bus takes in more passengers before leaving for Shillong,” stated GSU president Saljrang Tengrak R Marak in the letter. The student union also pointed out that while there are over a dozen private operators plying their buses from Tura to Shillong every night, in the case of Williamnagar people have to depend on the lone MTC service.
“Why should the MTC bus from Williamnagar and passing through Jengjal have to take a diversion and head backwards to Tura?” questioned the students’ body.
Earlier, the MTC bus service was directly between Williamnagar and Shillong via Songsak, but due to the absence of additional buses the state transport corporation has been using just one vehicle to pick up passengers from both Williamnagar and Tura. The Williamnagar-Songsak route of the MTC bus service has to be resumed immediately because people from Songsak and Rongjeng are being compelled to travel all the way to Williamnagar to catch the bus, urged the union.
They also accused the transport department of apathy as far as maintenance of the MTC station in Williamnagar was concerned.
“The station is more than 20 years old and no renovation has taken place. The roof is leaking and there are no seating arrangements for passengers and storage for their luggage. Worst of all is the total absence of any proper toilets and urinals for the passengers,” revealed the students’ union as they called upon the government to take up the matter at the earliest.
